The present invention generally relates to an improved valve. More particularly, the present invention relates to a valve having a large valve capacity and electro-hydraulic proportional pressure reducing and relieving abilities.
There are valves with stepped bores such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,876,185 and 6,125,886. In these patents the push is reduced by the smaller feedback area from a differential area formed by the stepped bore. However, the flow and response of these valves is limited due to flow forces that tend to shut the valve. In various applications ranging from pump controls to pilot operation of a larger direction control spool to even a direct cylinder actuation, the size of the application is determined by the flow capacity of the valve.